Month: February 2013

FCE Speaking Activities

This post looks at two different FCE speaking activities to practice speaking skills with exam students, but both of these activities can be used with lower level students. These activities are easy to adapt and as such can be used  regularly to practice for Part 2 and 3 of the FCE and CAE exams. Wordle headlines This activity is a […]

Getting teens interested in topics can be hard work. Videos can be a great way to get them and even adults more engaged in a topic. This week’s post looks at four different activities that can help practice key skills and develop interest and knowledge in the topic of food. Don’t forget to follow/add me on twitter and facebook for weekly ESL ideas.

Fast Food Facts

This activity can be a great way to get teens engaged by using a video to introduce a topic.
Activity Time:  5 – 10 minutes + Materials required: Students require pen/pencil and a piece of paper Skills practiced: Speaking, listening and reading. Level: Pre-intermediate +Method: 1. Put the class in pairs. Tell the students they are going to watch a video.
2. First, play the video and ask the students to answer the following question as a warm up. Stop the video at 0.59 seconds.
 How many customers can a single fast food company serve in one day?

 

Answer: 46 million
 
3. Tell the students they are going to hear twenty facts in one minute. Tell them that they must listen and write as many as they can. After they hear the list for the first time, they will get a few minutes to check their answers with their partner. Then, they will listen a final time. (Note: It is not essential that your students get all of the facts.) 4. Ask the students to look at the facts and pick one piece of information that they found interesting or surprising. Discuss the facts.
#1 40 percent of American meals are eaten outside of the home. #2 Each day, one in four Americans visit a fast food restaurant. #3 60% of adults and 16% of children are overweight. #4 A mustard stain will damage a good shirt. #5 French fries are the most eaten vegetable in America #6 You would have to walk for seven hours to burn off the calories from a Coke, fries and Big Mac. #7 Sometimes chicken isn’t chicken. #8 Burger King’s Light Italian still has 18 percent of your daily fat. #9 Cute cows die #10 McDonalds distrubutes more toys per year than ToysRUs #11 Children who eat fast food gain about 6 pounds (2.7Kg) more per year than normal. #12 100,000 deaths each year have been linked to obesity. #13 Love handles aren’t lovely. #14 Daily consumption can lead to a psychological addiction. #15 Fast food compromises diet quality by displacing healthy food. #16 Obesity has been linked to 20 physical problems and diseases. #17 Only seven items on McDonalds menu don’t contain sugar. #18 Taco Bell equals frequent bathroom visits. #19 Obesity will pass smoking as the leading cause of death in America #20 A diet hight in sodium, fat and cholesterol can lead to heart disease.

ESL Food Conversation Questions

Activity Time:  5 – 10 minutes + Materials required: A print out of the questions below. Download  Skills practiced: Speaking, listening and reading. Level: Pre-intermediate +
Method
 
Print out the following questions and cut them out. Each student takes a question and answers it.
If you could only eat one thing every day for your entire life, what would it be? Why?
What was the first thing you ate today?
What do you hate to eat? Why?
What is your favourite national dish? Why?
What is your favourite thing to cook?
Why?
What is the nicest thing you have ever eaten?  Describe it.
Which country makes the best food? Which makes the worst?
Why?
Would you like to be a vegetarian? Why/why not?
Do you think the food in your country is healthy? Why/Why not?
Which country in your opinion has the healthiest diet in the world? Why?
Which country has the worst diet in the world? Why?
How healthy is your diet? Why do you think that?
What’s your favourite junk food to eat? Why?
Do you believe “we are what we eat”?
Why/why not?

Food Memory Challenge

Activity Time:  5 + Materials required: It’s optional to project the image below to use as a guide and visual. Skills practiced: Speaking, vocabulary. Level: Any levelMethod 1. Explain to the class that they are going to play a game. The first student starts with A and they must say a fruit or food that begins with A. e.g Apple 2. The second student must say a food item that begins with B e.g Banana. 3. Keep going student after student. If a student is unable to answer, they are eliminated. The game ends when there is only one student left.

Celebrity Chef

Activity Time:  10 Minutes + Materials required: Video shown below Skills practiced: Speaking, Listening and Writing. Level: Lower intermediate +
Method
1. Show your students the following two pictures.
Ask them the following questions:
Who is he? 
What do you think his job is?
Why do you think this? etc
2. Tell them that they are going to watch a video and you would like them to answer the following questions;
1. How many people is Jamie Oliver cooking for?
2. What is one of the most important things about cooking paella?
3. What are the first 4 ingredients Jamie Oliver mentions?
4. What seafood is used?
5. What do you think the Flamenco singer is singing about?
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ESL Food Activities

Getting teens interested in topics can be hard work. Videos can be a great way to get them and even adults more engaged in a topic. This week’s post looks at four different activities that can help practice key skills and develop interest and knowledge in the topic of food. Don’t forget to follow/add me on twitter and […]

This post looks at 3 ESL Valentine’s Day Activities for teens and adults. These simple no-prep activities are a great way to get students talking and discussing their opinions on St. Valentine’s day.
The first activity explains the origins of St. Valentine’s Day while practicing students listening skills with a short video.
The second activity makes use of infographics to practice reading. Students read facts about Valentine’s Day and discuss what they read with the class.
Lastly, you will find a number of speaking questions to extend the conversation with students.
 

Valentine’s Day Explained

Activity Time:  10 mins + Materials required: Each student needs a piece of paper and a pen. Skills practiced: Listening, writing and speaking. Level: Teens and adults. Lower Intermediate +
Method
1. Show the class the video below and stop the video at around 0:51 seconds. Ask the students to answer the following question in pairs. Ask them to write their answer. (Show the video a second time if required.)
How did Valentines day start?
2. Ask the students the write down the following numbers. Tell them they are going to watch the video again. This time they must write down the significance of the numbers.
 
270 AD
496 AD
1415 AD
Late 1800’s
35 Million
189 Million
3. After you have checked their answers, ask them which facts they found most interesting and why.
On the board write “Love is …” In their pairs, ask the students to finish the statement.Here are some quotes to give them some inspiration:Love is like a friendship caught on fire”  Bruce Lee Love is only a little foolishness with a lot of curiosity” George Bernard Shaw Love is an irresistible desire to irresistibly desired” Robert Frost “Love is the flower you’ve got yo let grow” John Lennon  “Love is like a red red rose” Robert BurnsPlease contribute Please send on your classes “love is..” creations to me either on twitter @eslkidgames, #eslloveis or via email where they will be featured with my classes’ quotes to spread the love this Valentine’s day. 

 

Valentine’s Day Facts

Activity Time:  10 mins + Materials required: Printed infographic for each set of students Skills practiced: Listening, writing and speaking. Level: Teens and adults. Lower Intermediate
Method
1. Print the following infographics. One between two or three students. (Click the images to view the full infographic)
  2. Give each group their own infographic.  Ask them to read the infographic and create a mini presentation on the top five most interesting facts they read on their infographic. 3. Each group tells the other groups the information that have read and the class discuss the information. 4. The whole class then picks the top five pieces of information discussed. If you have time you could encourage the class to develop their own infographic based on their top five facts.

  

Valentine’s Day ESL Questions

Activity Time:  10 mins + Materials required: a copy of the printable Level: Teens and Adults all levels. Printable: Download Get the class talking with over 15 Valentine’s Day questions.
 
Did you find this post useful? Please leave a comment and share this post with others. As always, enjoy and have fun!
More ESL Valentine's Day Activities
Discover more ESL Valentine’s Day Activities for teens and adults. Valentine’s Day Board Game – Discuss Valentine’s Day with this interactive online board game for levels B1+ (lower intermediate and above, suitable for teens and adults. Guess the Valentine’s Day Idiom – In this warmer / cooler activity for teens and adults, students need to guess the Valentine’s Day idiom. This challenging activity is a simple and fun way to introduce students to idioms and expressions related to Valentine’s Day.
Updated 17.January.2021

3 ESL Valentine’s Day Activities

This post looks at 3 ESL Valentine’s Day Activities for teens and adults. These simple no-prep activities are a great way to get students talking and discussing their opinions on St. Valentine’s day. The first activity explains the origins of St. Valentine’s Day while practicing students listening skills with a short video. The second activity […]

Stop The Bus

Stop The Bus is a simple and fun vocabulary game for any level or age group. This game will quickly become one of those regularly requested games in class.Activity Time:  5 – 10 mins +Materials required: A piece of paper for each team to write on. Skills practiced: Vocabulary revision, brainstorming and quick thinking. Level: All levels (Young learners, teens and adults)Method1. Put […]